UPDATE: I opened a case with Promote's support department and they responded very quickly. It seems as though the workaround for this problem is to hit the focus button before starting anything. This will wake up the camera via the USB cable. I haven't tried the time-lapse feature, but I imagine that if I'm not physically there to press the focus button to wake the camera up, the time-lapse mode won't work. Either way, they did say that they are working on a new firmware release to address this very issue with communication between the Promote Control and the 7D, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

All this being said, I still think it's worth the price, in my opinion. The build quality and the support are there, so I can only see good things coming from this company.

Finally, if I may suggest one extra mode to be added to the Promote Control (since I see that there's a Hyperfocal Calculator in there already), I'd find it handy if there were a Time Calculator to give you the correct shutter speed when using different types of neutral density filters. I find myself always referencing the shutter speed calculation sheet that came with the Lee Big Stopper. It would be really handy if it were built in to the Promote Control as a separate mode because you can calculate your time with the Time Mode, then simply plug in the resulting time into the "One Shot" or "Manual Hold" modes.

I recently tried this unit with my 5Dm2. Bottom line: It just didnít work. Customer Service was frustrating as they refuse to use the phone. I returned the unit after several days delay due to the repetitive emails exchanged. Like ďare you sure itís plugged in?Ē Maybe they have a lot of problems solved because people who spend $300 on a camera accessory arenít savvy enough to insert a plug. They returned the same unit back to me after they determined there was nothing wrong. Same unit! At least they could have tried a different unit. I knew it was the same unit because the batteries that came with it were dead and I used my own, which were still installed (shouldnít they be removed for shipping?). Between the time they shipped it back to me and its return I got an email from them apologizing, that they in fact admit there is a problem with the firmware support for my particular camera and provided another beta update to their previous firmware update(why was this not done prior to returning?). Iím sure that the many happy users, for whom this unit works with their camera, arenít wrong, but, it did not work with my 5Dm2.

Just noticed the new firmware update, I'm stoked that for HDR they now have shadows, default, hightlight! Seems I was always a little off trying to guess what the mid-range was in the scene and entering that shutter speed. Now I can pick out the brightest, use the highlights setting and will have much better results. Thanks for the new option!

In regards to Victor, I know when using the Promote for HDR your camera mode has to be in Manual but I thought it had to be in Manual regardless what you were using the Promote Remote for otherwise you will get errors. Only reason I say this is I saw you wrote "I tried to practice with the unit for two hours last evening and experienced the communication errors in every mode except manual." Am I wrong?

In regards to Victor, I know when using the Promote for HDR your camera mode has to be in Manual but I thought it had to be in Manual regardless what you were using the Promote Remote for otherwise you will get errors.Only reason I say this is I saw you wrote "I tried to practice with the unit for two hours last evening and experienced the communication errors in every mode except manual."Am I wrong?

Wookiee, I was referring to the manual mode on the Promote Control, not the manual setting on the camera. Also, whenever the Promote Control needs the camera to be in bulb mode, it will prompt you do so, if not, then manual is the camera setting you'll need to be in.

Inspired by earlier discussions in this thread, I went looking for a case for the Promote Control that I could mount to my tripod.† I found that the Zing Designs SPE Small Camera/Electronics Belt bag provided almost a perfect fit for the Promote.† This is a padded neoprene pouch with a belt loop on the back and a velcro-fastened flap.† I purchased it ($9.99) from B&H

and fastened it to a tripod leg with a strip of double-sided velcro.† My camera is mounted on an RRS L plate, and was hard to use in portrait mode with the Promote-provided cable.† Following a tip posted by Sam Rohn, I purchased a short cable with an angled connector from usbfirewire.com (left angle mini-B extension cable, p/n RR-2MBL01-EXT-06GL5, $13) which I could route thru the side of the L plate.† I leave this on the camera all the time, and plug the Promote USB cable into it when using the Promote.† When roaming around, I leave the Promote Control in the Zing case.

One more I'd like to do is substitute a shorter USB cable, 12" or so, for the Promote cable.† However, I'm not sure what the proper description is for the USB plug that plugs into the Promote Control -- can anyone provide that?

I spent $10 at Fry's and got a soldering iron, solder, and shrink tubing, then cut & joined the promote cables to the length I needed. You might look for a right-angle mini USB connector for your camera, as the promote can put quite a bit of torque on the camera, especially if you leave it on while moving the tripod about.

Hello all, I am new here, but I've also just bought the promote control. I had a few problems with it and e-mailed their tech support (which is great by the way) and below are their answers.

#2.) is about a current defect with the D90 shutter cables in that the connector to the camera port is a "bit bigger" than their specs originally intended. The cable gets stuck in the port and requires quite a bit of arm strength to pull out again. Mine was stuck so tight that the casing on the metal nub at the end of the connector sheared off in the port and is now stuck in there. The crazy thing is that it still works and is actually easier to take out than before, but I can't close the rubber door on the d90 when I'm not using the port because of the metal thats stuck in there sticks out.

#3.) is in respect to timelapse functionality whether we could use it if we didn't want to use HDR. Right now you can only put in exposure times of 1 second by setting the exposure value in timelapse to 00:00:01. They are going to implement it so you can choose a specific shutter speed instead and use fractions of a second like 1/10th etc.

#4.) is in regards to the case that attaches to the tripod so you don't have to hold the promote.

#1.) is about only being able to pull off 32 of 45 exposures at 1/3rd stop.

[Answers below from Max Mindfield of Promote]

1. Frankly I have never tried to push our lab D90 through all 45 exposures but it looks to me that this is rather camera`s limitation (like buffer overload or USB timeout) than Control`s. Let me try this on our D90, I will get back to you. Maybe this can be fixed by introducing greater USB delay between the shots to give the camera enough time to prepare for next exposure.

2. We have carefully analyzed our latest batch of cables and found that some cables do have the defect like you described. The connector is sometimes slightly bigger than we mentioned in specs. We therefore halted all sales of these cables until our manufacturer fixes the problem and sends us the new batch of cables with proper connectors. I will send you one for free as soon as it becomes available. We will also reimburse you the cost of this cable. Sorry for these troubles..

3. Yes, this is something that we will implement quite soon. Stay tuned!

4. We already got a batch of cases, and they are sent to our warehouse. So they will be available for purchase either this or next week.

Anyway, I just got an update from them. They just came out with the cases and e-mailed me. 24 bucks is kinda steep for a case, and the one linked by Mac MacDougall looks like more of a steal. Thinking of taking an exacto knife to cut out the holes in the case.

Hoping that I may get some help with a Promote Control (PC) That I just purchased.

Promote Control V 2.0

Canon 5D Mk II† V 2.0.8

Using just the supplied USB cable the unit functions fine. Even MLU works.

With exposures ove 30 seconds the PC prompts to use the optional shutter cable, CN-3.

The problem is Nothing works when the Shutter/USB cable is connected. I cannot control the camera with any camera controls. nor with the PC. If I remove the shutter cable from the PC the camera will fire. If I plug in the shutter cable to the PC the camera will fire too.Even with the shutter cable prompt select to NO it does the same.Camera is set to Manual and all auto features disabled in menus. AF manual, even with a manual focus lens. Shutter cable is selected to YES in PC.†

The error message that shows up is ď Please connect camera via usb & turn it on.Ē The USB connection works fine by its self.

Problem solved...User error. I did not have the shutter cable all the way in. It took a fair amount of insertion pressure to go all the way. I want to thank Promote Control's Max Mindfield for the quick reply and support.

File this under "about time", I opened the Promote, jammed a Satechi wireless controller inside, and re-routed the Promote power to the Satechi's rechargeable battery. I can now step away from the tripod before firing the promote, and I can charge it via any USB power source.

Sorry for not following up with all the replies - I'm now mostly into development, and am only participating in support when needed. The support is now led by my Max whom you've seen referred to in this forum - if there is something he can't resolve, he will forward that to me, so no worries here

A bit of report from the forges. We've got an insane amount of requests for Mac updater software, so we simply had to sit down and do it:

On future plans... I plan to play with that focus stacking thing, unfortunately Canon only for now, but my R&D on Nikons may discover something I'm not aware of. We've now got our own 5DM2 to test with, yay! Another thing is we got some hub samples - in a nutshell, this is a little box that lets you connect one Promote to 2-3 more and have yourself a stereo and/or panoramic HDR Time-Lapse with 2-3 cams... or more if you stack more hubs. May mean a pretty steep cash outlay for the gear of course, but the result should be sweet.

Tripod cases - yeah, looks kinda pricey. Let me see what we can do about that.

Wireless hack - oh my, that's something! Congrats, I can't promise that everyone doing that sort of thing will not lose the warranty, but Steve you sure get an exception from that - impressive job! People, let me ask you - do most of you prefer a Li-Ion power rechargeable via USB to a set of 2 AAs you can get in the store? As for the wireless, we got a shipment of Phottix Cleon II wireless controllers - unfortunately they are not built-in to the Promote Control, but it works I will try to get them into the stores before Xmas.

That's it for today. As always, send us your comments and ideas via http://support.promotesystems.com - we're here and we do listen! OK, time for me to get back to coding